About Carlos Presentation

One of the few presentations I enjoyed a lot was Carlos’s  works on “Business, Etiquette, and Poverty: Fair Trade, Free Trade and CSR.” Fair trade, free trade, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are the hot trends in the corporate culture. Every corporate is trying to   create an image of being responsible towards the community and society they are serving to.
Within the world of business, corporations have been known for making money and increasing
shareholder values. However, recently a new movement has been added in this process. Corporates are looking  for broader corporate responsibilities: for the environment, for local communities, for working conditions, and  for ethical  practices .In Carlos’s presentation, he  showed us anti-smoking  video, to which Truth Campaign is promoting .

Beside CSR, fair trade and free trade are 

important issues which have impacts on the global economy. Free trade is a policy in which a government does not discriminate against imports or interference with exports. But it does not mean that government abandons all controls and taxations. They have conditions based on tariff barriers, currency restriction, and import quotas.

Free trade is based on Adam Smith’s argument on the division of labor. He believed that nation could make and sell whatever products they could compete in the  international market.
Fair trade is a system of exchange that appreciates producers, communities, consumers, and environment. It is a global model where economy is rooted to people connections, justice, and sustainability.
Carlos talked about importance of CSR in the corporate world. He described how CSR would help to create a better image and positive reputation of a company to their consumers, even though that is not their primary goal. Secondly, customers tend to buy stuffs from a company which favors fair trade. Corporations like Whole Foods, Starbucks, Harris Teeter ,and Trader Joe are good examples of CSR.These companies are using their policies on fair trade, sustainability to brand, and promote their brand name . For example ,if you  go to Starbucks, you will see some people of third world country working happily on their coffee field .These images encourage  consumers  to go back to Starbucks again and again, because they feel  that they are helping communities and favoring global economy and sustainability .

Carlos ideas and success story about corporate social responsibility was the S.T.A.R moment. Use of video and power point slides helps him to connect stories and audiences at a same time. His presentation made me think more about fair trade, free trade, and CSR. If I had to add more, I would definitely add how these corporate are using media to promote their primary goals, to make money, by using secondary goal (Social responsibility).Well, that could be another wonderful presentation.